Tick Tock. Scorsese pressured with a stopwatch

Word is that the current cut some have seen of Martin Scorsese’s Wolf of Wall Street clocks in at just under 3 hours. Is Marty seriously being pressured to trim it down closer to 120 minutes? Just because of an arbitrary time constraint predetermined months ago?

Slash an hour of a movie Scorsese says he’s happy with — just for the sake of squeezing in one more showing per day? Since the concept of sitting still for more than 2 hours of Scorsese is so unthinkable? Which 30 minutes would you want to cut from Casino or The Departed?

UPDATE: Roger Friedman at Showbiz411 is now saying he’s heard The Wolf won’t be released this year.

I’ve confirmed with sources the Wolf will not be at the door until next year. Disappointing for everyone, but good things come to those who wait… [Earlier] There have been rumors of three hour versions. The movie will not make its November 14th release date. Paramount is saying maybe they’ll make it for Christmas.

But that seems unlikely. Scorsese is committed to running the jury at the Marrakech Film Festival from November 29th to December 7th. That’s basically two weeks shot in the schedule. When Scorsese agreed to be the jury president he thought “Wolf” would already be in release. But rushing now, and having to be away for two weeks, seems impossible.